The coffin of Pope Francis is carried into St. Peter’s Square at the start of his funeral on Saturday. (Bernadette Tuazon/CNN)
Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Vatican on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis.
The beloved pontiff, the first Latin American pope in history, died earlier this week at the age of 88.
Saturday’s ceremony mostly took place outside, under bright sunshine in St. Peter’s Square. And although Pope Francis simplified the papal funeral rites in a move of typical modesty, there was still plenty of pomp and pageantry.
The crowd included dozens of dignitaries, including heads of state and reigning monarchs. Among the world leaders attending the ceremony were Javier Milei, president of the pope’s native Argentina; US President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., head of the largest Catholic nation in Asia. Britain’s Prince William, next in line to the throne, was among the world’s royals attending.
Francis’ funeral liturgy was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals. In the coming weeks, that group will meet in conclave to choose a new pope.
An attendee sits in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday. (Alessio Paduano for CNN)
Thousands of people from around the world attended the funeral. (Alessio Paduano for CNN)
A person peeks through a curtain during the funeral. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
Stacks of newspapers are seen in St. Peter’s Square. (Alessio Paduano for CNN)
Francis was a “pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” Re said in his homily, which was delivered after the pope’s coffin was carried into the piazza outside St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization.”
The crowds at St. Peter’s Square watched the Mass mostly in silence, breaking it only to sing and follow along with prayers, and to applaud when they saw Francis’ coffin.
After Re delivered the Prayer of the Faithful, also called the Universal Prayer, cardinals delivered a short prayer in six languages: Italian, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, German and Mandarin. It was the first time that Mandarin had been included in a papal funeral.
After the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled to mark the end of the service, the pope’s coffin was driven slowly through the streets of Rome to his final resting place at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
About 150,000 people lined the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) procession route from Vatican City through Rome.
Francis is the first pope in more than three centuries to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore, with his interment taking place away from the public eye.
In the days leading up to the funeral, Francis was lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica, where members of the public were able to see him and pay their respects. Mourners packed into the piazza outside, waiting in line to visit the pope’s coffin.
In keeping with Francis’ push to simplify the papal rites, his body was in an open wooden coffin, doing away with the tradition of having three coffins of cypress, lead and oak.
People waiting in line to enter St. Peter’s Basilica are reflected in a window on Wednesday. (Alessio Paduano for CNN)
Women pray in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday. (Bernadette Tuazon/CNN)
Rows of empty chairs line St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday. (Alessio Paduano for CNN)
Candles and flowers are seen in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday. (Toby Hancock/CNN)
People who waited for hours to pass by the coffin had only a fraction of a moment to see the pontiff, with roughly 50 people passing each minute.
Elsewhere in the basilica, people kneeled in chapels to pray in silence, and the confessional was open in four different languages. Nearly every offering candle was lit.
The basilica remained open until midnight each day. Vatican City authorities said that ahead of the closing hour, they would shut off the square and allow the remaining crowds to filter through the basilica past the pope.
Francis’ coffin was lying in state at the Altar of the Confessio, a sacred space in front of the main tomb of St. Peter, after being transferred from the chapel at his Casa Santa Marta residence on Wednesday.
The procession traveled through Piazza Santa Marta and the Piazza dei Protomartiri Romani, passing through the Arch of the Bells and into St. Peter’s Square, before entering through the basilica’s central door.
Swiss Guards stand at the entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday as the pope lies in state. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
Members of the media stand above the crowd as people continue to stream into St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday. (Bernadette Tuazon/CNN)
Before his election in 2013, the pope was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He chose the name Francis to honor St. Francis of Assisi, who is revered among Catholics for his work with the poor.
As pope, Francis championed the poor, migrants and the environment, and he quickly gained a reputation as a modernizer, with an outward-facing approach that saw him speak out boldly on humanitarian crises such as migration, war and climate change. He also sought to reform the church by tackling elitist mentalities among the clergy, demanding a compassionate approach to divorced and gay Catholics and insisting that the church welcome everyone.
Popes are usually buried within Vatican City, beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. But Francis is the first pontiff in more than a century to be buried outside the Vatican.
He requested a “simple” tomb a couple of miles away in Santa Maria Maggiore — also known as St. Mary Major.
The church has long held a special significance for Francis, who used to visit on Sunday mornings to honor the Virgin Mary. It’s where Francis began his first full day as pope in 2013, and it is also the first place he visited after leaving the hospital last month, offering flowers to be placed before the icon of the Virgin Mary.
